


Slowly, But Surely

by ich_bin_ein_stern



Series: Prompts w/Tony Stark [17]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: M/M, This is one of my favs.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 02:08:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11117670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ich_bin_ein_stern/pseuds/ich_bin_ein_stern
Summary: “please don’t leave me alone.” + Tony Stark/James "Bucky" Barnes





	Slowly, But Surely

**Author's Note:**

> Infinity War!AU  
> Send your Tony/Nearly Anyone prompt to my Tumblr.

Bucky blinks tiredly at the fading sun. His entire form aches from heavy lifting, from being thrown through a wall or three, from being hit by a couple of ray beams, and whatever else he and the others faced in the last three days. He wants to call it a day and sleep for ten years.

He’s sitting on the ground, back leaning against a half crumbled wall, waiting for someone to find him. He lost his ear comm halfway into the final battle when he was blasted from a rooftop by some sort of droid. 

Sometime after that, he gets separated from the others. Bucky knows for a fact that Steve is freaking out about him right now. His gut is telling him so. He wonders if the others - Natasha and Sam, particularly - are worried about him?

A sort of heaviness settles on his shoulders. 

The fight was tense but not nearly as intense as it was to be in the same room as Steve and Stark as they both tried to maintain some sort of civility while discussing Thanos, the invasion, and the possibility of dying. Stark occasionally has a smug look on his face that didn’t help improve anyone’s mood, but Bucky doesn’t care. From what he was told in passing, Stark foreshadowed something like this happening a while back. 

And Stark barely glanced his way since he and Steve called a shaky truce. Bucky knows it has something to do with being in King T’Challa’s palace. Stark is smart enough - Steve has enough common sense - to not do anything that would anger the king (like breaking a meeting room or destroying personal property). 

And so they are civil and Stark keeps them all at a distance. Even Romanoff and Bucky thought they were friends. He has no idea what’s up with Barton and Stark, but the hostility is nearly as bad with them as it is with Steve and Stark at times. And the Maximoff girl? Bucky doesn’t know where to begin with her. She and Stark don’t speak to each other. Don’t even look at each other. Everyone else just stays out of the way.

Bucky groans when he shifts his arm, the metallic one, and feels something pull within. _It stings like a motherfucker_. He hopes, prays even, that someone will find him soon so he can get his arm looked at and quite possibly sleep for a whole decade. 

He hears something in the distance. Something flying? Maybe? Not giving much thought to it, Bucky closes his eyes and breathes deeply. 

And then something heavy lands in front of him and something that sounds suspiciously familiar follows. Like a mechanical door sliding open and then closing. There are footsteps and then someone is crouching in front of him.

“Barnes, you alive?”

_Jesus, Mary, and Joesph!_

Bucky’s eyes pop open and he’s sitting up ramrod straight staring into the dark brown eyes of _Tony fucking Stark_. 

“Calm down,” Stark says followed by an eye roll. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Bucky doesn’t reply. Realistically speaking, there has been no mention of what happened in Siberia and both Steve and Stark actively avoid discussing what went down. And he, himself, went back into the ice willingly for nearly a year before the Thanos threat became too big.

He’s in no position to be making any means of escape or to defend himself and, judging by the Iron Man suit standing at the ready, all Stark had to do is give the order and he’s done for. 

“Jesus Christ, Barnes. Relax!” Stark snaps.

Bucky didn’t realize he was close to panicking, didn’t realize that his heart started beating fast, that his hands were shaking. 

“You ain’t gonna’ kill me?” Bucky manages.

Stark stares at him with blank eyes. No anger. No remorse. There’s something, maybe pity?, in his eyes and Bucky hates it.

“If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.” It’s the only thing he gets. “Now sit still so I can look you over.”

Bucky doesn’t bother concealing the flinch when Stark’s fingers start probing along the right side of his temple up to his hairline and then to his neck. He mumbles to himself under his breath but doesn’t move Bucky beyond shifting his metal arm somewhat to check his ribs.

When his down, Stark deliberate gets up slowly and backs away much like one would do to someone who is frightened. If heaviness weren’t settling over his eyes, Bucky might have laughed.  

“Okay, I’m gonna’ go get Rogers and, uh, a medic team. Just sit tight.”

Panic floods Bucky’s mind and he shakes his head. 

“Don’t leave,” he demands. “Don’t leave me here.”

Stark just looks at him, face blank. And the panic that he felt quickly doubles. He doesn’t want to be left alone. Who knows how long it would take for Stark to being Steve or whoever else along? He didn’t want to risk falling unconscious or something worse. 

“I’m not medically trained to help you, Barnes. Nor do I have the supplies to help.” 

“Don’t care,” Bucky replies, feeling his grasp on reality starting to slip. “Just - _fuck_ \- just,” he curses when he moves his arm and jolt of pain shoots across his shoulders, “please don’t leave me alone.”

His head drops. It sounds pathetic even to his own ears. Begging someone who clearly doesn’t want to stay. 

If only Steve were - “Okay.”

Bucky’s head snaps up. Did he hear that correctly? Did Stark actually agree to stay with him until help arrives? 

Stark turns to his suit - “FRIDAY, activate protocol 134452″ - and crouches to Bucky’s level as the suit takes off to the sky, probably looking for Steve and the others.

“I know you d-don’t want to stay -,” Bucky begins.

“Just stop talking.”

“ - but thank you, Stark.” He finishes as though Stark didn’t speak.

They sit there in silence for minutes. Bucky is trying - and failing - to not fall asleep and Stark hasn’t moved from his crouched position. It can’t be comfortable, but Bucky isn’t stupid enough to test his luck and ask Stark to take a seat.

He is, however, apparently stupid enough to say something else.

“About that time i-in Siberia…” Bucky coughs. “Nothing can change what I did - “

“Barnes, you really need to stop talking.” It’s a warning, but Bucky knows if he doesn’t get it out now, the chances of them being alone like without outside influence are slim to none. 

“Just let m-me finish, please?” Stark doesn’t reply so Bucky takes that as a sign to continue. “I can’t change what I did, but I n-need you to know that I’ll spend the rest of m-my life wishing I could take it back.” 

Stark sucks in a shaky breath. “You had no control over your actions.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“For fuck’s sake, Barnes!!” Stark snaps. “I know it doesn’t matter to you despite you having no control!” 

Bucky closes his eyes.

“And…” Stark starts again, much calmer, “it didn’t matter to me at the time when I saw the fucking video. But now,” he licks his lips. “It’s not fair to hold it over your head for the rest of your life. I just,” Stark looks pained for a moment. “I just wish I could have said good-bye to my mom. Dad? It’s been rocky for years. But mom? She was… _everything_ to me.”

The telltale signs of tears sting the backs of Bucky’s eyes. Stark looks close to crying himself.

“Stark -,” Bucky wants to say something. 

God, the situation is _fucked_.

“My mom wouldn’t want me to hold it against you and after some time of being away from everything to do with Siberia and The Accords…I’m much more clear-headed.” He hesitates. “Steve won’t like it, but I want to help you. My mom may have lost her life, but I can help you get your’s back.”

“Why would you want to help me?”

“Consider it an IOU,” Stark replies simply. 

Bucky nods. “Okay.”

It’s going to be a rocky future and Bucky knows that he and Stark have more to discuss, but this is a start. 

___

The End

**Author's Note:**

> This work can be found originally on my Tumblr - [Click Here](http://nonbinarytonystark.tumblr.com/post/160606271182/please-dont-leave-me-alone-tony-starkjames)


End file.
